Castle Mystery Man Drops (Just a Few) Clues About Rick's Vanishing

Who faked Castle‘s car crash, dragged away his body and had him doing heaven-knows-what for two months?

The ABC series’ Season 7 premiere established at least one person who has answers that Rick and Kate so anxiously seek – a mystery man who passed himself off as mild-mannered mobile home-owner “Henry Jenkins,” in the name of pointing the 12th’s investigation down the wrong path.

TVLine spoke with onetime Scandal bad boy Matt Letscher about his super-secret guest-starring turn on Castle, which continues Monday at 10/9c, as well as his portrayal of a Kennedy during Boardwalk Empire‘s final season.

TVLINE | This Castle thing has been surrounded in much secrecy. ABC didn’t even want it out that you were in the second episode.
I know…. [Laughs] Honestly, I couldn’t answer to you as why.

TVLINE | They probably didn’t want people eyeballing your character too closely. “I know he’s in the second episode, so something must not be kosher here.”
Yeah. Yeah. They’ve been all over me about that, which is fine!

TVLINE | How would you tease this strange piece of new mythology that the Castle character has gotten himself wrapped up in?
I feel like I’m not allowed to say anything, or else the “Castle secret police” will track me down and shoot me in the street. But he definitely has a history with Castle. As far as I can tell, he is someone who looms large in Castle’s past.

TVLINE | Nathan Fillion in a recent interview suggested that whatever is going on here is perhaps not particularly “dark.”
He would know better than anybody, but I don’t know…. Even on the set when we were shooting, they played both sides of the fence with me. I think that could be partially because they want to leave themselves some options.

TVLINE | Did you watch the premiere? Could it be that the characters have made some incorrect assumptions?
I’m sure some of them will be proved wrong….

TVLINE | Who would you say is more cunning – this guy, or Scandal‘s Billy Chambers?
My impression is definitely this guy. There was something more craven and crude about Billy; he didn’t think things through too well, at the end of Season 2 there. [Laughs] But this guy is a lot smarter than that. Again, I don’t know, but maybe he doesn’t have the same “killer edge” that Billy had. He’s a “cooler” character, for sure.

TVLINE | The premiere dropped three breadcrumbs that weren’t followed up on: the “38” key sewn into Castle’s pants, the Dengue fever thing, and the fact that he had been shot. Will any of those be revisited in Episode 2?
Yes, they will be touched upon. But I wouldn’t hope for resolution any time soon.

TVLINE | I’m afraid for this guy if Kate ever gets her hands on him again.
Yeah – it could go badly! It could go really badly.

TVLINE | Is the door left open at the end of the second episode, that you may darken their doorstep further?
There aren’t any definitive hints, like, “See you in a month,” but it’s definitely left open. You definitely have a greater understanding of how this guy figures into Castle’s history.

TVLINE | By the end of the episode, will we have any idea of what this guy wants — or wanted — with Rick?
Um….

TVLINE | Maybe a half-of-a-half of an idea?
Yeah, I think you’ll have a half-of-a-half of an idea — and it’s “wants” with regard to something very specific. In terms of the whole mystery, no, you won’t have much more information, but in terms of the short-term circumstances, you will understand more.

TVLINE | Turning to a another mysterious figure: What’s going on with Boardwalk Empire‘s Joe Kennedy? He’s been getting kind of cozy with Margaret there.
Yeah, yeah, I was surprised. He’s just checking out his options. He’s checking out “business” opportunities…. I come back in the [series] finale. The story plays out a little bit more, and there’s a resolution to it.

TVLINE | What was it like portraying such a historical figure?
It was a blast. I mean, Joe Kennedy was a hugely important figure in the early 20th century. The different levels of our society that he held really prominent positions in are kind of startling — from banking to the stock market to liquor to political office, and the legacy he created for his kids, so that they could just “go out and save the world.”

TVLINE | Did you give yourself a refresher, to see what drove him?
I did, because there’s so much mystery about him. There’s legend about him, as this guy who hung out with gangsters and bootleggers and would step over any dead body to pick up a dime…. In the reading I did, there doesn’t seem to be any real evidence of extreme criminal activity, but he was definitely a guy who loved to play at the edges of the moral gray areas. He was an expert on insider trading before insider trading was “insider trading”; that’s how he made his dough before the Crash. He also was smart enough to anticipate the Srash in ’29 and got out. He was in the movie industry, too. — he had a production company with Gloria Swanson, whom he seduced and then took a bunch of her money and left…. It was really remarkable the swath he cut through the social fabric of that time.

where exactly should it have come from? It’s a tv show. They can’t drop ideas for a seven 7 arc in season 2 when they don’t even know if they’ll make it that long. A new story arc is not that big a deal in television. I feel like people are really blowing this out of proportion…

Agree.I also enjoyed the premiere. Only planned to watch the first episode this season, because I was so mad when they didn’t have the wedding. After seeing this episode, I am on board again for the season. Liking the mystery..

See? Always best to wait and watch what they do. There are many times we’re allowed to get frustrated in one ep only to have it pay off later. I think they know a reaction before it airs for stuff like the season finale. They know it’ll all be fine, and we’ll like it if we just hang in there.

same here. i’m actually very surprised it’s lasted for 4 seasons. that is not an indictment of the show, but look at all the great shows that ended in less…..well….i can only think of avengers emh. you can tell this show still has a lot of fresh ideas yet to come.

Oooh, but would Rick put Alexis, Kate and Martha through that hell simply for a shadow brother? I’m tempted to stick with those three being threatened mightily as Castle’s motivation for all this. Brother or no brother.

No, he wouldn’t. But I’d still be willing to believe the guy’s his bro. Castle just doesn’t know it yet. And, if in fact Castle is hiding something from Alexis, Kate and Martha, I agree without question that their being threatened would be the motivation for all this.

I’m cautiously excited for what is to come. I was pumped about the whole “Castle has been kidnapped thing” until they showed him dump the money. That combined with the memory loss, makes me think they are going to resolve it with some hypnosis/magical forgetting drug/different personality nonsense to explain the missing 2 months and that just makes me groan >.> Then again, the missing months might make for an interesting season so I may just overlook the “twist” in the end.

My money is on Castle pretending he doesn’t know what happened… But the reason to not tell is because he doesn’t want Martha, Laexis or Kate (becuase she will go ballistic) to know how bad it was. I’m thinking “Kate in the Belly of the Beast” bad.. And he is sparing them the details. Then the PTSD will hit, he’ll want to carry a gun (they will let him). I think Castle’s positive life outlook is what is driving him right now (hence the daze and not questioning anything) and it explains his heightened positive life outlook when he kisses Gates next week.

I don’t think he’s lying at all about those 2 months. He seemed genuinely confused about how long he was gone (hence the reason for being flippant about what he thought was a recent car accident, he was trying to make light of that to ease her mind about his injuries he thought). Of course he felt like crap, he thought he’d just been in a car wreck. When everybody expressed doubt, he got distressed and eager to prove it.

It’s not a ‘magical forgetting drug’ or some silly soap trope. Those things really exist. Someone doesn’t want him to remember. Maybe he was in a quasi-stupor the whole time. Many people block stuff out from being hammered the night before with that magical drug, alcohol. These people who took Castle clearly have tremendous resources. They could have been doing something on a major scale and that includes screwing around with him and his memory. If this were really a jump the shark twist, it wouldn’t go on as a mythology, it’d have been wrapped up in a kinda rushed 2 parter or something.

Did Beckett and the gang not show Castle the pic of the man that pretends to be Jenkins? How could “he definitely has a history with Castle. As far as I can tell, he is someone who looms large in Castle’s past.” Wouldn’t Castle have recognize him?

While I agree, NF did say the finale was on the “lighter side” (I totally thought it was hot).. I think Matt is referencing that Nathan is now also saying that the new mythology isn’t going to make Castle a hardened character or change his character in some major brooding, depressing, “I could have been a killer, but I chose to write about” deep dark secret way… He’ll still stay the funny, quick with a quip/crazy theory guy.. Just maybe with a bit more edge from this experience.

99% of the finale was a lighter episode. It was only the last minute that went darker. That was my issue with the finale, the sudden change in mood. After seeing the premiere I realize the last minute of the S6 finale was the actual start of the S7 premiere. Thematically the end of the finale was Kate talking to Castle on the phone, when he said her annulment was official and he was 20 minutes away.

Much like a butterfly ~ very elusive answers. LOVED the premiere episode of Castle. Definitely looking for a wedding but in the meantime am enjoying the mystery that abounds. Some clues but nothing to put our fingers on. Let’s ALL sit back, relax & enjoy watching as it all unfolds ~ :-)

I absolutely love Castle,.I also love the two of them together,so Marry them already,the show will not lose its lust with commitment,us women love that sh…i mean crap!.I pray he wasnt forced to have sexual relations inder the influence of some date rape drug,and in a few shows a woman shows up 6 months pregnant with Castles baby,,,,PLEASE dont do that to us!!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE CASTLE tho!!!!

How can the Castle producers think that we’d not realize that the Henry Jenkins character was important. By casting a well known actor, the jig is basically up before he opens his mouth. If the game is to blind side us, cast an unknown. Having said that, I like the Matt Letscher and can’t wait to see the storyline unfold.

I know it may come as a shock, but not all of us watch Scandal and Matt’s not so well known that everybody’s gonna go ‘oooh! famous guy! totally important character.’ If Matt Damon were the guy taking out the trash, well yeah then we’d all notice. I remember hearing Matt Letscher was gonna be on Castle, but I kinda spaced out about it during the episode and it didn’t sink in til later. Most folks don’t read spoilers so many of them were probably completely in the dark as to whether he was significant.

Casting it a tricky job. For larger roles you want someone with experience and someone that’s going to give the performance you require. Casting an unknown would require someone that has not worked in TV before. I never heard the name Matt Letscher before but I did recognize his face as a working actor. An “unknown” actor to one person might be a favorite actor to someone else, depending on viewing habits. Recognizing an actor might help in knowing how much screen time they’ll get but not how the character is involved in the plot.
As far as the show goes, the Henry Jenkins character isn’t important. It’s the mysterious man that pretended to be him that’s important. I guessed we’d see the character again because of the actor, but I was “blindsided” to find out that he was an imposter. We’re assuming his character is involved in the abduction, but maybe he put Castle in the dinge and sent it adrift so he could be found, actually rescuing him. We’ll have to wait and see.

Cool can’t wait for monday. I got a very good feeling about this new mythology. maybe I’m blind, deaf, and dumb but to me the premiere had a very different vibe to it then Castle of the past. Hopefully Amann and company can really run with this. I just hope it’s not resolved anytime soon. Castle deserves a good mystery and he certainly deserves the lime light for a while it’s supposed to be his show after all. not that i didn’t thoroughly enjoy Beckett’s arc, but it will be nice to have more focus on Castle.

Just a thought – do you think it is possible that “Castle” they found on a boat is actually 3XK after plastic surgery? He has shot wounds (everyone remembers what happened on a bridge :)), his girlfriend is a plastic surgeon, he had a lot of time (2 months) to observe Rick’s behaviour but still not enough to copy him perfectly. And one more clue: Nathan is a very good actor but he was not convincing in “Driven” at all – maybe in this episode he played a guy who is trying hard to be Rick Castle?

I agree. I think the “Castle” they found was MEANT to be found, he’s an imposter, and 3XK is behind all this. The REAL Castle wouldn’t kiss Gates to save his life. No WAY. I think they have Nathan playing a guy who’s pretending to be Castle, just like someone else said below this comment.

I don’t know about the 3XK part but I just had occasion to watch a short video on another site (unusual for me, ’cause I usually only read TV Line–honest!). Anyway, the video shows Castle being interviewed on TV regarding the release of his new books (eg Raging Heat) and, of course, the conversation quickly turns to his disappearance. Castle is very subdued, has a flat affect, not what we would normally see from him. I’m the first one to say a little less nonsense, energy and goofiness would be nice, but, alas, now I’m uncomfortable with it. It may be that this is supposed to be a sequelae from his 2 month ordeal, but maybe not…

What I want to know is why his mother and daughter were not that upset when the car was on fire ? They r a Big part of his life and show I would have been screaming it was like they did not matter .. And I think now that they r engaged the thrill of the chase is over. The love chase.

Well, the handoff to a new show runner could not have been worse nor boded worse for the continuation of the series. Seems the new guy has no idea what to do with Alexis, Ryan and Esposito were out of character, and they’re so busy putting their stamp on “Rick’s new mythology” they’re ready to piss all over the character we came for.

It was nice while it lasted. I’ll look for Andrew’s new series, but probably done with Rick & Kate.